Last week we attended a graduation dinner for a candidate, who insisted we prove to her that it is possible to speak authoritatively on any subject and with zero preparation. She introduced us to a doyen of health economics to test this theory. FYI – we were not prepped in advance and do not know anything about the field. We wanted to show her techniques to manage such situations. Listen to what happens.

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4 responses to Proving our techniques on dialogue

This podcast was very good at displaying how to network, in other words, to “converse with a complete stranger.”

I found that I have been doing something similar, but for another reason: I just simply want to get to know the person. People are interesting and there is always something to learn from them. Even if you never meet the person again, you might learn something useful or simple have a great time.

So for other applicants: forget about impressing the partners/interviewers, just GENUINELY TRY TO KNOW THE PERSONS BEHIND THE TITLES. Everyone’s life is a colorful book so it’s fun to read it. And once you show that you genuinely want to learn about them, they immediately like you back and will want to learn about you as well.

The absence of advance questions brings up a good contrast with due diligence sessions, which are marked by a list of thematically organized list of questions. My first question to kick-off a conversation is “how did you get into this topic in the first place?” or “what interests you about this topic?”